What does “we'll be in touch” mean at the end of an interview?
It means the interview is over and the interviewer can't give you a decision yet. Most hiring teams decide after every interviewer has written up their notes and compared them, so the person in front of you doesn't know the outcome. The line goes to strong and weak candidates alike, which is why it tells you so little.
Structured interviews are designed to close the same way for everyone. The US Office of Personnel Management's structured interview guide tells interviewers to end by asking "Is there anything else you would like us to know?", take your questions, and then thank and excuse you. Nothing in that script gives a verdict.
So read the words around the line, and leave the line itself alone. A date, a named next step or a question about your availability carries more information than the closing phrase.
Why don't interviewers tell you how you did before you leave?
The score doesn't exist yet when you leave the room. The same OPM guide tells interviewers to review their notes and rate the candidate immediately after the candidate leaves. On a panel, each member rates alone first, then the panel discusses the differences and agrees a consensus rating, so no single interviewer can promise you anything at the door.
Software works the same way. Greenhouse, a common hiring system, has each interviewer submit a scorecard with an overall recommendation, and its scorecard overview shows employers can keep other interviewers' scorecards hidden until all of them are in. The guide to how interview scorecards work explains what goes on that form.
Warmth at the end is also trained. OPM's guide tells interviewers to watch their own body language so they don't communicate negative impressions. A smile and a firm "great to meet you" are good manners, and a good interviewer gives them to every candidate.
What do the six most common closing lines usually mean?
Each closing line carries a little information, mostly about process and timing, almost never about your score. The table decodes six lines interviewers commonly say as the call ends. Read the meaning as the usual case. A specific date or a concrete next step always tells you more than the tone of voice.
| What the interviewer said | What it usually means | How much it tells you (1 to 5, editorial) | What to do tonight |
|---|---|---|---|
| “We'll be in touch.” | The interview is over and the decision sits with the team. | 1 | Ask the recruiter for a timeline in your thank-you note. |
| “You'll hear from us by [day].” | The team has a debrief or deadline planned. | 3 | Put the day after that date in your calendar as your follow-up day. |
| “We're still meeting a few other candidates.” | You're in a group being compared, and the decision waits for the last interview. | 2 | Expect a longer wait, and keep other applications moving. |
| “[Recruiter] will reach out about next steps.” | The process has a defined next stage that the recruiter owns. | 3 | Reply to the recruiter, not the interviewer, from now on. |
| “When could you start?” or “What's your notice period?” | They're checking whether a hire is practical. Some teams ask everyone. | 3 | Write down exactly what you said, so later rounds hear the same date. |
| “Are you interviewing anywhere else?” | They're gauging how fast they need to move. | 2 | If you have a deadline elsewhere, tell the recruiter in writing. |
The scores in the third column are an editorial rule of thumb, set against what each line commits the company to. They are not measured data. A line that names a date or a person commits them to something you can check, so it rates higher than a line that commits them to nothing.
Is “we'll be in touch” a bad sign?
On its own, no. It's the default closing line, and interviewers say it after good calls and bad ones. What you remember from the middle of the interview tells you far more: whether the follow-up questions were digging for something you didn't give, or whether the interviewer started selling the role to you.
The signs an interview went badly are mostly audible during the call, so check your memory against them before you read anything into the goodbye. If one answer keeps replaying in your head, the guide on how to tell you lost the room helps you find the exact moment and what caused it.
A rushed ending is different from a polite one. If the interviewer cut your questions short to finish early, write that down tonight, with the time if you can. It may mean nothing more than a meeting running late, and it's still worth having in your notes.
How is this different from “we decided to move in another direction”?
“We'll be in touch” comes before the decision, and “we decided to move in another direction” comes after it. The first is a closing line from the interviewer. The second is a rejection template from the recruiter, sent once the team has chosen someone else, and it's final.
If the email you got used that second phrase, the guide to the “move in another direction” meaning decodes it along with the other stock rejection lines. This page stays with what you heard at the end of the call, while the outcome is still open.
How long should you wait after hearing “we'll be in touch”?
Wait until the day after any date they gave you. If nobody gave a date, five business days is a reasonable first wait. That matches one large employer's own promise: Amazon's guide to its interview process says candidates can expect a decision within five business days of on-site interviews.
Many employers never commit to a date at all. In Talent Board's 2023 candidate experience research, only 45% of participating North American employers said they set a follow-up date with finalists and keep it. So silence after "we'll be in touch" is common and says little by itself.
The guide on how long it takes to hear back after an interview covers typical waits. If the date passes with nothing, no response after an interview has the follow-up emails, with the wording for a first and a second note.
What should you do tonight when the interview ended this way?
Write down the last two minutes of the call while you still remember them. The closing lines are easy to forget and easy to misremember a week later, when you're anxious and rereading every word. A short note made tonight gives you a date to work from and stops you guessing.
Use this checklist. It takes about ten minutes.
- Write the interviewer's last two or three sentences as close to word for word as you can.
- Note any date, deadline or named person they mentioned.
- Note any question about start dates, notice periods or other interviews, and your exact answer.
- List the questions you asked them, and the one you wish you'd asked.
- Put a follow-up date in your calendar: the day after their date, or five business days out.
The free 10-minute debrief template has room for all of this alongside your notes on each answer. If you're writing a thank-you note tonight, the guide to the thank-you email after an interview has short templates you can adapt.
What if they said nothing about next steps?
Ask in your thank-you note, in one sentence. A direct timing question is easier for a recruiter to answer than a general check-in, and asking early gives your later follow-up a date to point at. Send it to the recruiter who scheduled you, within a day of the interview.
You can add this line to your note tonight:
Thank you again for your time today. Could you let me know the next step and roughly when I should expect to hear back? I'd like to plan around it.
If you'd like a closer read of the interview than your memory allows, Prept's free tier includes one interview hour, recorded with everyone's consent, transcribed and debriefed, with no card (start with one free debrief). It quotes the moment you lost the room, if there was one, and gives you words to say instead.